Automatic head-block-setting mechanism for sawmill-carriages.



N0. 652,7". Patented June 26, I900.

T. C. BONDURANT 5. C. A. GLENN.

AUTOMATIC HEAD BLOCK SETTING MECHANISM FOR SAWMILL CARRIAGES.

(Application filed Feb. 12, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Shaets$hest l.

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P at ented June 26, I900.

(Applicatiqn filed Feb. 12, 1900.)

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T. C. BONDUBANT &. C. A. GLENN. AUTOMATIC HEAD BLOCK SETTING MECHANISM FOR SAWMILL CABRIAGES.

(No Model.)

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THOMAS C. BONDURANT AND CHARLES ALLEN GLENN, OF OAYCE, KENTUCKY.

AUTOMATIC HEAD-BLOCK-SETTING MECHANISM FOR SAWMILL-CARRIAGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 652,711 dated June 26, 1900.

' ApplicatinnfiledIebruary12,1900. Serial No. 4,979. (Nomodeld T0 (tZZ whom it may concern;

Be it known that we, THOMAS C. BONDU- RANT and CHARLES ALLEN GLENN, citizens of the United States, residing at Cayce, in the county of Fulton and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Automatic Head- Block-Setting Mechanism for Sawmill-Oarriages, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention is an improved automatic head-block-setting mechanism for sawmillcarriages; and the object of our invention is to provide a simple and highly-efficient mechanismto automatically set the knees on the head-blocks as the carriage moves the saw-log toward the saw, so as to cause the sawmill to saw lumber of any thickness desired. 7

Our invention consists in combining with the'set-works of a carriage a series of spaced adjustable rack-plates, which are relatively fixed on a supporting-sill in the carriage Way or track and are adapted to engage and impart motion to the operating-wheel of the setworks as the carriage travels, and a key-bar and operating mechanism therefor to lock said rack-plates in operative position.

Our invention further consists in the peculiar construction and combination of de vices hereinafter fully set forth, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of a sawmill-carriage and automatic head-block-setting mechanism therefor embodying our improvements. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of the same on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse view of the same on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

The sawmill-carriage '1, which may be of any suitable construction, is provided with the supporting-wheels 2, which travel on the track-rails 3, that serve to form the runway and guide for the carriage. Transversely disposed on the carriage are the hollow head-.

blocks 4, in which travel the knees 5, the said knees being provided with the horizontallyextended arms (3, which are guided in the hollow head-blocks and are provided on their lower sides with the rack-teeth 7. A longitudinal shaft 8 is disposed on one side of the carriage and journaled in suitable bearin gs 9,

with which the carriage is provided, and keyed on said shaft are pinions 10, which engage the rack-teeth of the knees. Ashaft 11 is disposed transversely in the center'of the carriage and journaled in suitable bearings 12 therein and is provided at one end with a miter-wheel 13, that engages a similar wheel 14 on the shaft 8, the function of these gears being to communicate rotary motion from the shaft 11 to the shaft 8. Loosely mounted on the shaft 11, near one end thereof, is a spurwheel 15, provided with a spring-pressed pawl 16, that engages a ratchet-wheel 17', which is fast on said shaft 11, and hence causing said wheel 15 to rotate the shaft with it when said wheel is turned in one direction, while permitting said wheel to rotate idly on said shaft in the reverse direction. in the runway parallel with the track-rails and under the Wheel 15, which is the actuating-wheel of the set-works for moving the knees, hereinbefore described, and on the said sill, at a suitable distance from the saw,

(not shown,) are a series of pairs of vertical pins 19, which are at regular distances apart corresponding with units of measure. Said series of pins are disposed 011 opposite sides of the path of the wheel 15, and a series of adjustable rack-plates 20 are provided, which are adapted to connect said series of pins together in pairs, the said rack-plates being disposed transversely wit-h relation-to the wheel 15 and normally below the path there of, the height of the pins 19 being such that when one or more of the said rack-plates are raised above the sill said rack-plates so raised will be in the path of and adapted to engage the teeth on the lower side of the wheel 15. A key-bar 21 is supported on the sill 18 and adapted to travel in guides 22, one end of the said key-bar extending between the series of adjusting-pins 19 and bearing under a series of adjusting rackplates 20. The said end of the said keybar is reduced in vertical measurement, as at 23, thereby providing said key-bar with a lower plane 24 and a higher plane 25, the latter when the rack-plates are supported thereon serving to maintain said rack-plates at a sufficient height to rotate the wheel 15 when the latter passes over them by the movement A sill 18 is disposed of the carriage on its track, While the lower plane 24 of the said key-bar serves to support such of the adjustable rack-plates as may be resting thereon below the height required to cause such rack-plates to engage said wheel 15. The key-bar is provided on its underside, at the opposite end, with a series of rack-teeth 26, engaged by a pinion 27 on a shaft 28. On one end of said shaft is a spur-wheel 29, adapted to be engaged by the bolt or detent 30 of a hand-lever 31, which is pivotally mounted on said shaft, the pinion 27 and spur-wheel 29 being fast on said shaft. This construction and combination of devices enable the key-bar to be moved longitudinally by the hand-lever 31, as will be readily understood.

The operation of ourinvention is as follows: Assuming that the pairs of pins 19 are spaced apart a distance corresponding to one inch of the movement ofthe knees in the head-blocks and that the first three of the adjustable rackplates are supported in an elevated position by the key-bar, while the remaining rackplates are lowered and out of operative position with reference to the wheel 15, when the carriage, with the log thereon and bearing against the knees, is moved, in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figs. 1 and 2, toward the saw the said three elevated rackplates will each engage a spur on the lower side of the wheel 15 in succession as said wheel passes over said rack-plates, and thereby cause the said wheel to rotate through a distance equivalent to the space occupied by three of its spur-Wheels, this partial rotation of the said wheel causing partial rotation to be imparted to the shafts 11 and 8, with the result that the spur-pinions 10, which engage the rack-bars of the knees, will move the latter, and hence the saw-1og which bears against them, three inches,and the lumber to be sawed of that thickness. When it is desired to saw lumber of a thickness of only one inch, only one of said rack-plates will be supported in operative position by the key-bar, the number of rack-plates used determining the number of inches in thickness of the lumber to be sawed.

The key-bar has its elevated plane 25 and lower plane 24 connected by an inclined plane 32, whicl1 forms a cam adapted to raise'the rack-plates successively from the lower plane tothe higher plane asthe key-bar passes under them, as will be readily understood, and to lower them successively when the motion of the key-bar is reversed, and hence an operator, stationed at the lever 31, by causing the said key-bar to raise any number of said rack-plates may set the knees on the headblocks at any required adjustment. WVhen the carriage recedes from the saw, the wheel 15, when engaging the elevated rack-plates, will be partially rotated thereby idly on its shaft, and hence without affecting the set or adjustment of the knees on the head-blocks.

Having thus described our invention, we claim I 1. In automatic head-block-setting mechanism, set-works having an actuating-shaft, anactuating-wheel thereon, and devices to lock said Wheel to said shaft when turned in one direction and permit said wheel to rotate idly on said shaft in the reverse direction, in combination with a series of adjustable rackplates removable from their supports, and a key-bar against which said rack-plates bear, said key-bar having a cam to engage said rack-plates and move and support the same in the path of said actuating-wheel, for the purpose set forth, substantially as described.

2. In automatic head-blocksetting mechanism, set-works having an actuating-shaft, an actuating-wheel thereon and devices to lock said wheel to said shaft when turned in one direction and permit said wheel to move idly on said shaft in the reverse direction, in combination with a key-bar having bearingfaces in different planes, and a cam-plane conneotin g said bearing-faces, and a series of adjustable rack-plates disposed on said keybar and adapted to be moved and sustained by the latter in the path of the actuating- Wheel, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the pairs of supporting-pins, and the adjustable rack-plates thereon, of means to adjust and lock said rack-plates, for the purpose set forth, substantially as described.

4. The key-bar, having the upper and lower planes, and the cam-plane connecting them, in combination with the adjustable plates disposed on said key-bar, and the supports for said adjust-able plates, substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto affixed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS C. BONDURAN'I.

. CHARLES ALLEN GLENN.

Vitnesses:

J. W. NAYLOR, CHAs. MURoHIsoN. 

